Indiana coach Tracy Smith at a news conference before the team left for the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. Robert Scheer/The Star

Written by

Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany spent eight years in the fray of an ever-continuing college baseball debate over competitive balance between cold-weather schools and warm-weather schools.

"To be honest with you," Delany said, "I don't think we moved the needle very much."

Indiana is the first Big Ten team in the College World Series since 1984, showing it's possible for a school north of the Mason-Dixon Line to play for a national college baseball title. Kent State and Stony Brook (N.Y.) made it to last year's College World Series. ...